Ireland head to the World Twenty20 in the West Indies looking for yet more giantkilling exploits in the Caribbean.

It was three years ago that Ireland sensationally defeated Pakistan at the 50-over World Cup to knock the Asian giants out of that tournament.

Ireland find themselves up against England and the West Indies in the first round of the World Twenty20 and need to beat one of the Test nations in Guyana to get through to the second round.

But, as the Netherlands showed when beating England at Lord's in last year's World Twenty20, shocks can happen in cricket's shortest international format too, not that Ireland need anyone to tell them about how to cause an upset.

"I think it's easier to pull off a shock in Twenty20 because recovery time is less than in 50 overs," said Ireland coach Phil Simmons, whose side were still involved in last year's edition in England with six games to go.

"We have played that little bit more Twenty20 than we had going into the last World Cup - so we are slightly wiser about Twenty20 cricket," the former West Indies batsman added. "That has to be a good thing."

Ireland squad's contains men with experience of major tournaments including World Cup captain Trent Johnston and his successor Will Porterfield, as well as players who are now featuring for English counties.

"It's nice (for me) to be playing in the West Indies and for the players to be taking on England too," Simmons said.

"But this is the group we would have taken too; we are happy with that.

"From our point of view, it is about trying to improve our performance every time we take on teams at this level - and Twenty20 is no different.

"It is a format we are not experienced in, but we have to keep picking things up as we go and make sure we use them."

Ireland's progress has led them to ask the International Cricket Council to tell them what else they must do to qualify for Test status.

But Simmons insisted that did not put extra pressure on his players at the World Twenty20.

"Yes, the pressure is on; but that is inevitable on these occasions.

"The stakes are always high, whenever you are taking on these full member top teams with a chance to show you are improving," Simmons added.

"It's not something we even think about. We just go out to play as well as we can and make sure we take our opportunities."